The Importance of Feeling English

American Literature and the British Diaspora, 1750-1850

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British, American
Cover of the book The Importance of Feeling English by Leonard Tennenhouse, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Leonard Tennenhouse ISBN: 9781400827923
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: February 9, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Leonard Tennenhouse
ISBN: 9781400827923
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: February 9, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

American literature is typically seen as something that inspired its own conception and that sprang into being as a cultural offshoot of America's desire for national identity. But what of the vast precedent established by English literature, which was a major American import between 1750 and 1850?

In The Importance of Feeling English, Leonard Tennenhouse revisits the landscape of early American literature and radically revises its features. Using the concept of transatlantic circulation, he shows how some of the first American authors--from poets such as Timothy Dwight and Philip Freneau to novelists like William Hill Brown and Charles Brockden Brown--applied their newfound perspective to pre-existing British literary models. These American "re-writings" would in turn inspire native British authors such as Jane Austen and Horace Walpole to reconsider their own ideas of subject, household, and nation.

The enduring nature of these literary exchanges dramatically recasts early American literature as a literature of diaspora, Tennenhouse argues--and what made the settlers' writings distinctly and indelibly American was precisely their insistence on reproducing Englishness, on making English identity portable and adaptable. Written in an incisive and illuminating style, The Importance of Feeling English reveals the complex roots of American literature, and shows how its transatlantic movement aided and abetted the modernization of Anglophone culture at large.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

American literature is typically seen as something that inspired its own conception and that sprang into being as a cultural offshoot of America's desire for national identity. But what of the vast precedent established by English literature, which was a major American import between 1750 and 1850?

In The Importance of Feeling English, Leonard Tennenhouse revisits the landscape of early American literature and radically revises its features. Using the concept of transatlantic circulation, he shows how some of the first American authors--from poets such as Timothy Dwight and Philip Freneau to novelists like William Hill Brown and Charles Brockden Brown--applied their newfound perspective to pre-existing British literary models. These American "re-writings" would in turn inspire native British authors such as Jane Austen and Horace Walpole to reconsider their own ideas of subject, household, and nation.

The enduring nature of these literary exchanges dramatically recasts early American literature as a literature of diaspora, Tennenhouse argues--and what made the settlers' writings distinctly and indelibly American was precisely their insistence on reproducing Englishness, on making English identity portable and adaptable. Written in an incisive and illuminating style, The Importance of Feeling English reveals the complex roots of American literature, and shows how its transatlantic movement aided and abetted the modernization of Anglophone culture at large.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Mathematical Analysis of Deterministic and Stochastic Problems in Complex Media Electromagnetics by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Uneasy Alliances by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Waiting for José by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Liberal Loyalty by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Creativity Class by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Why Not Kill Them All? by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book The Dark Sides of Virtue by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Volume II by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Currency Politics by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book In Praise of Simple Physics by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Sabbatai Ṣevi by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book The Analytic Tradition in Philosophy, Volume 1 by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book The Scandal of Kabbalah by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book Ideology in the Supreme Court by Leonard Tennenhouse
Cover of the book The Origins of Happiness by Leonard Tennenhouse
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy